Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
A criminal who'd been aiming for a little girl's ass shouldn't have words like that coming out of his mouth.
The world's really gone to shit.
"What? What the fuck did you say, you little shit? You didn't think I'd call you out for tossing someone aside like garbage?"
But shockingly, the bastard was genuinely furious at me. As if I'd thrown him aside just to blow off steam and hadn't seen what he'd been trying to do, and because of that, he was doubly enraged that he'd missed the ass he'd been about to grab—fuming at the mouth, basically.
"Where's the brain-damaged fuck who thinks he can sneak a grope of a little girl's ass and not get cussed out and tossed aside? Did you pulverize your cerebrum?"
"Wh-wh-wh-wh, what bullshit is that, you fuck!"
The surrounding noise gradually died at his shout. Sheryl, whose shoulder I was still holding, tilted her head and looked between the bastard and me. Then her puzzled blocky eyebrows snapped into an angry expression as she understood what was happening.
"You got proof, fucker?! Proof, I said!!"
"The only reason I'm letting this slide with just kicking you out is because we're inside the Guild right now. Anywhere else, your hands would've gone flying off separately from the rest of you. If you don't like it, go fetch a truth crystal from the library."
Even as I spoke, no matter how much I racked my memory, it was a face I hadn't seen for at least the past year. The capital Adventurer's Guild was a low-level hunting ground in structure, so experienced types moved on elsewhere, and it was mostly newcomers or fresh arrivals.
No way that sorry specimen was a newbie—so he was an "adventurer" who'd crawled into the capital from somewhere else, not an actual newcomer... and among the rabble who drag themselves this far with near-amateur skills, there were almost no normal ones.
"What's this? Dantel? What's going on?"
"This fucking prick's slandering me!"
But why was it so goddamn common for those types to mob up together? Four similar shaggy-looking bastards came slinking out from among the adventurers who were watching the loudmouthed shithead like it was entertainment, and they planted themselves at his side, starting to glare daggers at me.
"You son of a bitch! You thought you could humiliate me like this and it'd end pretty?!"
Nine out of ten bastards who fuck up themselves and then twitch like they're about to draw steel are brain-dead. The remaining tenth just aren't human to begin with.
Thanks to that, my own head was gradually tilting sideways too.
"If it doesn't end pretty, what're you gonna do about it, you child sex offender piece of shit."
"Ch-ch-child, s-sex, what?! What the fuck?!"
Sheryl chose that moment to pinch my side, and I nearly screamed, but I clenched my teeth and endured. Why were all my acquaintances so desperate to wreck my flanks?
"Hey there, kid. I dunno what it's about, but seems like there was a misunderstanding. Why not ease up and apologize?"
"Maybe you wanna show off in front of your pretty little girlfriend, but the world ain't all clean and easy like the capital, you know?"
They weren't just shamelessly acting like the victims anymore; now they were edging into threats. Sheryl's blocky brows drew tight with fury and she tried to launch herself out of my arms, so I caught on and hurriedly covered her mouth.
"I am... mmph! Mmph!"
"Hey! No! Not you!"
The irritation that had surged up at the ridiculous situation was instantly replaced by bewilderment. No matter how bad people are at recognizing noble faces, the moment she shouted her name, mass chaos was guaranteed, and I had to stop that. But Sheryl, already boiling with irritation and fury, thrashed stubbornly to break free.
"Ack! Stop biting and—wait!"
Right then. A sudden saving hand appeared.
"A fight? Who's... ghk, isn't that the Mad Dog?!"
"Ah, it's Eldmia Ega!"
"Some bastards showed up to pick a fight with Mad Dog Eldmia!"
Though the form it took was far from desirable, salvation was salvation. At the starting point of their shouts, the adventurers who'd been somewhat close around us all retreated backward in a sweep. Yet as if they had no intention of missing the spectacle, they formed a ring and slipped unmistakably into spectator mode.
At the reactions of the surrounding adventurers who suddenly began heating up and pulling further back, even the sex offender Dantel and his comrades—and Sheryl, who was held by me with her mouth clamped shut—started looking up at me with strange gazes.
Come on. I'd really had no other choice. When so many bastards started shit with me, how was I supposed to just let it pass?
It was absolutely not my fault that every request I completed somehow turned into an incident big enough for another round of teaching someone my creed.
Still, it was a huge help in the moment, so I forced calm and delivered my verdict.
"The capital's a lot less clean and easy than you're imagining, you know? Unless you want to trust in your numbers and end up dead, take your criminal fuckhead and get the hell out."
"...Your face, brat. I've remembered it. Watch yourself."
Dantel's slow retreat and his threat were so laughable that a chuckle escaped me before I knew it.
"Yeah, remember it well. Because the moment you forget, you die."
I'd let them go because it stopped at an attempt. As they cleared out of the Guild and the surroundings settled into a sort of lull, I looked around and couldn't help but speak one word.
"Mad Dog?"
The countless gazes that had gathered scattered all at once, as if on cue. Those fucking—really.
"Child?"
At Sheryl's icy voice, I hastily dodged away and bolted toward the request board to tear off the bandit subjugation request.
◈
"What the hell have you been getting up to?"
"Roaming around upholding my convictions."
Even though I'd said nothing but the truth, Sheryl only stared at me with a look full of suspicion.
After the brief commotion, while we accepted our original objective—the bandit subjugation request—and moved toward the assembly point, Sheryl relentlessly tossed questions at me, determined to find out what outrageous antics I'd committed. But given that I'd repeated nothing but righteous conduct for the sake of honor and conviction, not outrageous antics, I had nothing to feel guilty about.
"Now that you mention it, you did say you had that kind of personality back at Ogwen, too."
"Huh? How do you know that?"
"Ragnis told me."
Ah. Right, the two of them had originally been close. Even though the tragedy of their house had created some difference in station, it seemed their friendship hadn't changed.
"Now that I think about it, you did say you knew each other before. Looking back, it feels like I haven't really gone to visit much ever since I became your personal butler?"
"Ragnis is busy too. You barely get to see her yourself, right?"
"That's true."
She was just insanely busy. So much so that I could only say it like that—Ragnis had been insanely busy over the past year. In the old days, I'd still gone to see her face from time to time, but now it was tough even meeting once a week.
"Ragnis doesn't have much time. With Radnelbandes leading all those people who are teaching her and making plans... I suppose it was inevitable."
Unlike me, who spent most of my time at the estate or on guild requests, Sheryl went back and forth to the academy and heard bits and pieces. But she never involved herself beyond listening.
"Anyway, it's not something for us to worry about. The Margrave of Levien will fulfill her duties well."
Despite the age gap and difference in rank, Sheryl recognized Ragnis as an equal friend and trusted her. That was why she didn't pity Ragnis or rush to help without being asked. If Sheryl herself had been in Ragnis's position, she'd have found that kind of unsolicited help insulting. Ragnis, of course, might've wanted a friend to step in without being asked. But unless Sheryl knew that was what she wanted, the greatest respect she could show was to prepare and wait.
So that the moment a request for help came, she could leap out and cut the throats of those who stood in the way.
"Well said. No reason and no time to be worrying about someone who hasn't even asked for help. Isn't preparing so you can help when they really do ask for help later the best course?"
"Insolent, but I'll let it go this time."
"Look who's talking."
The fact that our thought processes were eerily similar definitely had its pros and cons. Whenever we spoke, we ended up finding each other insolent, but the understanding between us was strangely seamless.
Thanks to that, even though the assembly point at the west gate was quite a distance, we were able to arrive without boredom, chatting along the way. Whether you called it separating business from personal matters, Sheryl had a side where she lowered her high-handed attitude by about half whenever she acted as an adventurer, and I thought that had made this outcome possible.
"Is this more than just a bunch of bandits? Are we dealing with an actual bandit gang? That's a lot of people gathering."
I'd expected maybe twenty people at the assembly point, but more than fifty were scattered around waiting to depart. There were three wagons built like military transports, so it looked as though they'd planned for as many as sixty people.
Even allowing for the distance, it was hard to believe bandits in an area still loosely considered part of the capital's vicinity had established themselves on a scale large enough to require this many people.
"There was talk that if this fails too, the knight order will be deployed."
This too? Before I could voice it, Sheryl anticipated my question and continued.
"I heard the first attempt was posted as an ordinary guild request for adventurers. This is the second round."
"It's starting to make sense."
Requests involving bandits were usually rated around Green-rank or Blue-rank difficulty.
That was because most bandits ultimately amounted to nothing more than people driven to a point where life was so tight they had to plunder others. If you had decent skills, you could make a living doing anything, anywhere. It was a simple story. But the bandits this time were clearly a variable that had slightly escaped that simple story.
There was someone strong among them.
"Still, they're bandits, so it's probably just a competent boss, right?"
"If it turns out the underlings are more competent than the boss, I'm willing to reveal my name and give a standing ovation."
"I'll concede that point. If it turns out that way, I'll be right next to you applauding too."
If mere bandits were running things not through rule by force but out of loyalty, they'd have more than earned applause from the two of us. Still, I had a premonition that they wouldn't have reached this level with just one or two outstanding individuals, so I bared my teeth in a grin. Sheryl grinned back similarly.
That was probably why Sheryl had taken an interest in the request. Pretty as she looked, she was unmistakably the daughter of a knightly house, and she considered gaining insight through real combat against strong opponents perfectly natural.